Quite the characters

Nearly 70 Corona del Mar Intermediate School students were honored for their "good character" in a special ceremony Monday morning in the gymnasium.

And it didn't take long for Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry to quote the late John Wooden — in the heart of USC territory, no less — to the hundreds who showed up for the special event.

"Character is important, and coach John Wooden knew that," Curry told the seventh- and eighth-graders and their parents. "He knew that the character of his players were more important than the talent."

Wooden, who died last week at age 99, was a renowned college basketball coach for UCLA, winning 10 national championships as the "Wizard of Westwood."

The event was put on by the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce.

While Corona del Mar Intermediate's students haven't exactly reached the great coach's plateau, they're well on their way, as Principal Guy Olguin expounded on the students' great personalities and character in the classroom.

Jerry Weichman, a clinical psychologist, was invited to say a few words to all of the students.

Weichman offered these 10 pieces of advice:

Be good

Accept yourself

Learn from your mistakes

Stay positive and focused

It's not what we say, it's what we do; act

Don't preoccupy yourself with the success of others

Shun materialism

Give

Life is one big boomerang; choose what comes back to you

Leave this world the way you found it

He finally concluded his speech with a famous quotation — sometimes attributed to Winston Churchill but not with certainty — he picked up along the way: "You make a living by what you get; you make a life by what you give."

Each grade had three special honorees: The seventh-graders were Reilly Barry, Hoyt Crance and Kira Woods. The eighth graders were Jake Huggins, Micaela Larsen and Elizabeth Russell.